Altered States

Chapter 14

The news from Chief Dobrynin was not encouraging. Beyond the difficulty he experienced in handling the new control rods he was starting to see a basic problem in the reactor itself. Now he was meeting with the Admiral and Fedorov to discuss the situation. Kamenski was invited, but he had not yet arrived. Knowing he was going to be the bearer of bad news, Dobrynin began his briefing.

“Something in the makeup of the materials in this latest control rod is not harmonizing well with the reactor, sir,” he began. “I made a close inspection of this new control rod after the procedure was concluded, and I began to see signs of unusual wear, micro-fissures, tiny cracks. It is very unusual for a new rod to exhibit these conditions. Apparently that last attempt to displace in time placed a great deal of stress on both the reactor and the control rod.”

“The fact that we moved in space rather than time was rather alarming,” said Fedorov. “We did move in time, but only for the briefest moment.”

“Yes, I could hear it,” said Dobrynin. “On all previous shifts the sound moved in the direction of our displacement. If we were shifting forward into the future there was always a rising chorus, and for shifts into the past it always descended. This may sound strange to you, but it is a very subtle harmonic that I can hear in the system as it operates.”

“Those ears of your served us well,” said Volsky.

“Yet not this time, Admiral. The sound attempted to rise, but it was as if it struck a barrier of some kind. The sound just quavered in a long, steady timbre. Then it simply faded.”

“This does not sound good,” said Fedorov. “Given the possibility that this could happen again, and the ship could find itself marooned on dry land, I would not advise we attempt to use this control rod again until we know what is happening.”

“I am in agreement,” said Volsky. “We have not given much thought to how these time displacements have affected the structural integrity of the ship itself. Beyond that, we are still bearing the scars of many engagements. I spoke with chief Byko to get a comprehensive report on the ship’s condition. We have no battle bridge, damage to the fantail, the hull is patched amidships, we have damage on our main mast, and now we have lost the Horse Jaw sonar system. Byko believes we need an extended time in port, a week or ten days so that he can complete repairs to the hull. In this light, damage to the main reactor system is the last thing we need. I cannot risk this.”

“It's not serious at the moment, sir,” said Dobrynin. “I noted unusual flux readings in the core, and they were not easy to control this time. The rod is doing something it was not designed for, and it did not seem to bear up well under the stress. If this rod were tested in a live reactor after production, I believe it would have been discarded and destroyed.”

“Inspector General Kapustin has told me that that these last two control rods have a much higher quantity of the material mined along the stony Tunguska River. It could be that the effects we experienced with Rod-25 require a very precise measure of this material in order to work.”

“That's the problem, sir,” said Fedorov. “We really don't know what we're dealing with here. We don't know what this material is, we don't know where it came from, and we don't really know how to control it in spite of chief Dobrynin's best effort. It's a miracle we have been able to move in time as we have, but that may have largely been the work of the unique properties of Rod-25.”

“So it is fair to say that our first live field test of these additional rods has failed.” The Admiral rubbed a cramp from his neck, stretching to ease the fatigue in his shoulders. “We could try the third rod, but something tells me it may produce similar effects. Our situation here is far from certain, and we could have the whole Royal Navy after us again in a few days for all I know. It would be good to know we could leave this war, but who knows where we might end up if we try this again.”

“Agreed, sir. Perhaps we could do some testing under reduced power. But I would like to give the reactors a full inspection before we initiate this procedure again.”

Volsky nodded, thinking the situation over. “Now here we are in the North Atlantic of 1940, and if experience is any guide we are likely to come into conflict with someone here, the Americans, the British, even the Germans. Our problem remains as it was. There are no friendly ports in this world for us, and any ship we meet at sea could be an enemy. The ship is broken and needs repair, and the world we sail in now is also broken. I'm afraid it may be beyond our capacity to do anything about that, Mister Fedorov. Karpov thought he could shape the days ahead to his liking, that he was invincible, but the world is much bigger than anything he could hold in his arms. It may be all we can do to survive here, and to do so we are going to have to change enemies into friends. What have you learned about the geopolitical situation here, Fedorov?”

“You are correct sir, this is not the same world we left. Russia is fragmented into at least three major states, and two of those are at war with one another. Soviet Russia, centered on Moscow, is presently engaged in conflict with the Orenburg Republic in the heartland. Apparently the Siberian state remains neutral, and all three states are still neutral in so far as the war is concerned, but that may change.”

“What have you learned about these three Russian states? Who controls them?”

“Something very shocking has happened, sir, and I must now confess that I believe I may be responsible for it.”

“You are responsible? What do you mean, Mister Fedorov?”

“Admiral, the Soviet Union is now being led by Sergei Kirov, not Josef Stalin.” He left that out there seeing the reaction on all their faces.

“You have confirmed this?”

“Kirov was mentioned by name in several news feeds, so he was not assassinated in 1934, and he apparently prevailed in the power struggle against Stalin and took control of the Red Faction in the civil war. I have no hard information on that yet. In fact I have found no reference to Stalin whatsoever in the radio intercepts we've been monitoring. It is as if he never lived.”

“That would indeed make a colossal difference. But how could you be responsible for that?”

“Remember, Admiral, I met Sergei Kirov as a young man in 1908. I foolishly told him to be wary of Stalin. In fact I even whispered the month and year of his assassination and told him to beware. I don’t know what I was thinking to do such a stupid thing. Perhaps it was that I always admired him, and wondered what the Soviet state might have become under his rule and free from the shadow of Stalin.”

“You are suggesting Kirov had something to do with Stalin's demise?”

“Quite possibly, sir. It does appear obvious that Kirov won the power struggle between him and Stalin, and that alone is quite remarkable.”

“What about this Orenburg Federation you speak of?”

“It seems to have initially formed around Denikin and the White Russian movement that opposed the Bolsheviks, but from what I can gather Denikin is not empowered there either. A man named Volkov is controlling that government, and his name is mentioned prominently in almost every newsfeed we get.”

The Admiral raised an eyebrow at that. “Volkov? I have heard this name… Yes, that was the name of the intelligence officer that accompanied the Inspector General. Probably coincidence.”

“Yes, I remember now, sir. But he should be safely lost in the year 2021 and of no concern to us.”

“That may not be the case,” came a voice, and they turned to see Pavel Kamenski at the door of the briefing room. “Forgive my tardiness, Admiral, but I have just come from a little chat with your radio operator. I was equally curious about the state of our homeland, as you all are, and thought I would listen in briefly to Radio Moscow. Mister Fedorov is correct. Most of the news concerning Orenburg does seem to revolve around this nebulous figure known as Volkov. It may be a coincidence as you suggest, Admiral, but I must tell you that in order to remove the man as a potential threat to your operation at the Primorskiy Engineering Center, I sent this Volkov off on a little wild goose chase. When you disappeared, Mister Fedorov, there were only so many ways one could leave Vladivostok. We had men watching the airports and harbors, and that left the railroad. So, Admiral, just to get him out of the way I ordered this Volkov to search the entire route of the Siberian rail line to look for your Mister Fedorov. Of course I knew he would find nothing, because I already suspected there was another dimension to this secret operation of yours. In time I decided to reach an accommodation with you to see if I could help sort things out. So I sent the Inspector General to meet with you, Admiral, and here we are, one big happy family now. Yet after this amazing revelation concerning that back stairway in the railway inn at Ilanskiy, I now begin to hear more than I wish to in the name Volkov.”

Fedorov stood in stunned silence for a moment, then he spoke, his voice laden with alarm. “Do you believe he may have found that stairway and moved into the past?”

“The thought has crossed my mind.” Kamenski came in, closing the door behind him, and took a seat. “From what you have described that fissure in time connected 1908 with the year 1942. What we do not know, however, is whether that fissure continues on into the future. It could be that someone coming up those stairs could move beyond the year 1942, or even that someone coming down those stairs from the year 2021 would find himself in a most unusual place.”

“I had never considered that,” said Fedorov. “The fact that I was able to move back and forth as I did was astounding enough. I did often wonder who else may have come up or down those stairs over the decades, and whether that stairway still opened a strange portal to the past, even in our day.”

“This may be all speculation,” said Kamenski, “but they called this man a prophet, at least on the news I heard. It was said he had an uncanny knack for predicting the future. Now I must tell you one more thing. Before I came to see you at naval headquarters Fokino, Admiral, I received the report from the squad of security men that were traveling with Volkov. Apparently he disappeared without a trace…. At Ilanskiy. I did not know of this peculiar stairway at the time, and thought he may have simply gone under cover. But his men said they searched the entire facility, and I imagine they would have found those back stairs, but nothing seems to have happened to any of them.”

“I did find that the effects were not consistent,” said Fedorov. “When I first went missing, Sergeant Troyak and Zykov searched for me as well. Troyak tells me he went down those stairs, even as I did, but nothing happened to him. Yet I ended up in 1908!”

“Almost like a door swinging in the wind, sometimes open, sometimes closed.” Kamenski tapped his fingernail on the table as he considered this. “God help us if Volkov found it open. He may have gone down those steps as well, and who knows how far down he went. He may have found himself in 1942, or even 1908. This is what I fear, and if that is so then Karpov was not the only gopher in the Devil’s Garden. Volkov is a bit of a devil at heart himself.”

“This is all most disturbing,” said Volsky, “much more so than any problem we might have with our reactors. Look at all the trouble we went to over Orlov. To think that a man like Volkov has been at large in the past all this time, with knowledge of every twist and turn in the history… Why this is truly chilling. I can see how he might be able to position himself and become a very powerful man indeed.”

“We do not know that this has indeed happened,” said Kamenski, “but I feel the same chill, Admiral, and if we should discover this to be true, then we are faced with the question of what to do about it.”

“What could we do about it?” Volsky seemed completely nonplussed. “We cannot sail Kirov Orenburg. It is deep in the heartland, and we could not even reach that place with a helicopter from the Black Sea. And don't get any ideas about going to fetch him, Mister Fedorov. If Volkov is in power there he will be well protected and completely beyond our reach.”

“If this is true, Admiral, he remains locked in a power struggle with Sergei Kirov. Russia remains at war with itself, sir, and I cannot escape the feeling that we are responsible, that I am responsible. If I had not insisted on this crazy plan to search for Orlov none of this would have happened.”

“Do not blame yourself, Fedorov. You did only what you thought was right. You have worked tirelessly to protect the integrity of the history, but that may be beyond our power now. That said, we are Russians too. If our nation remains torn in Civil War, it may be that we, too, must choose a side. I do not have to think too long about this before I know who I would choose and support in this conflict. This ship bears his name.”

Kamenski rubbed his forehead, thinking. “Are you suggesting we use the power at our disposal to influence the outcome of the events underway here, Admiral?”

“I begin to sound much like Karpov, do I not? As far as possible I would like to avoid any conflict here and see to the repairs on the ship and the wellbeing of the crew. But the fact remains that we are here, and perhaps here for a reason. This barrier you spoke of, Chief. That got me thinking. What if neither of these control rods can move us forward in time again? Unless we wish to risk another shift and accept the consequences of a catastrophic failure, we may be here for a long while. In that event we must find friends here, or all the world will become our enemy. If I had to find one man alive here I might embrace, it would be Sergei Kirov. Yet the Royal Navy is likely to be our first challenge. Perhaps I could have another chat with this Admiral Tovey. Yes, you tell me he will have no recollection of that meeting, but I got a strong sense of the man when we met. He may be one we could make a friend instead of an enemy. We reached an accommodation before, and perhaps we can do so again. Find out all you can about this, Mister Fedorov. We have much to consider.”

“Right sir, and to begin with perhaps we should decide our present course. We have been hovering off Cape Farewell, and we have already been sighted by that convoy. Chances are we will soon arouse more interest or suspicion if we stay here.”

“I suppose I should also sort out the ship’s command structure before we proceed. Karpov is gone and we have no acting Captain. How do you feel about assuming that role again, Mister Fedorov?”

“I would be honored, sir.”

“Very well, then I designate you acting Captain, with Rodenko as your Starpom. Gentlemen…if we cannot get home with one of these control rods, then home is where we find ourselves. As much as my tooth hates the weather there, the cold waters of the north are also our home. We could head north again, just the way we came, or we could turn south and seek to linger in the warmer waters of the South Atlantic.”

“I’ve done some thinking about this, Admiral. From our present position we are about 3500 kilometers from Severomorsk by way of the Denmark Strait, north of Jan Mayan, and then east above Norway. That is just under four days at 20 knots and three days if we can increase speed.”

“Old familiar waters,” said Volsky. “And our route south?”

“That depends on how far south, but if we were to seek neutral waters off the southern coast of Brazil we are looking at five to six days sailing at 20 knots.”

“My heart tells me to go south and find a nice warm island somewhere as before. My head tells me that fantasy will be short lived, and that we must eventually come to grips with the world we have helped bring into being here. We cannot hide from it any longer. So we will go north, and you may get another chance to meet the man you inadvertently helped put in power, Fedorov. We will go pay a little visit to Sergie Kirov, if he will have us.”